Assessment of PECM as an efficient numerical analysis tool for investigating convective heat transfer phenomena during PCM melting
2019 (English)In: Journal of Energy Storage, ISSN 2352-152X, E-ISSN 2352-1538, Vol. 24, p. 100743-, article id 100743Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In the framework of this research work, the principle focus is to assess the applicability & reliability of the Phase change Effective Convectivity Model (PECM) as a numerical analysis tool to investigate natural convective heat transfer in single and two-fluid density PCM molten pools. The model is applied in ANSYS FLUENT as User Defined Function (UDF) to predict convective melt pool thermal hydraulics in a volumetrically heated PCM (Phase Change Material) melt pool. As a part of this work, PECM is tested first by a benchmark case against CFD to gain confidence in its applicability as an analysis tool. Two commercial PCMs: RT50 and C58, are introduced in a 3D semicircular vessel slice with their thermo-physical properties as input for modelling. The sidewalls made of quartz glass are used for direct visualization of convective heat transfer phenomena. It is ensured that the conditions of nearly constant density of power deposition over the entire volume of the PCM melt pool throughout the series of simulation cases. The values of characteristic numbers ranged within the following limits with different pool height corresponding modified Rayleigh number Ra=1012-1013 and for Prandtl number Pr=5-7. The selected modelling approach is validated against SIGMA experiment with respect to the angular distribution of heat flux that qualify our model to run in the proceeding calculation using PECM. Following benchmark test results of PECM compared with that of conventional enthalpy porosity method embedded in ANSYS FLUENT, PECM is applied in 1-layer and 2-layer PCM configuration to study in details of the influence of different boundary conditions, internal heat sources (QV) and heat transfer fluid (HTF) cooling condition to quantify the thermal loads. Finally, the comparison is made between two PCM configurations in terms of the quantification of the thermal load to justify PECM as an efficient numerical analysis tool for investigating convective heat transfer phenomena during PCM melting.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier BV , 2019. Vol. 24, p. 100743-, article id 100743
Keywords [en]
CFD simulation, HTF, Natural convection, PECM, Phase change materials, Angular distribution, Benchmarking, Computational fluid dynamics, Heat flux, Melting, Numerical analysis, Prandtl number, Reliability analysis, Thermal load, CFD simulations, Different boundary condition, Efficient numerical analysis, Enthalpy-porosity method, Natural convective heat transfers, PCM (phase change material), Thermo-physical property
National Category
Condensed Matter Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-314030DOI: 10.1016/j.est.2019.04.017ISI: 000481671900006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85067310499OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-314030DiVA, id: diva2:1670150
Note
QC 20220615
2022-06-152022-06-152023-08-28Bibliographically approved